Wombat blog

Dawn was an old wombat at Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuary. She did start a blog, and in her memory, I am going to continue this blog for all wombats, big and small.

Some won't like what is blogged, too bad. This is a running daily blog of what wombats are enduring Australia wide, in particular in New South Wales and the workload of Phil and myself. I think it is about time to show/tell the public what is really going on and you can judge for yourselves.

If I posted truthfully on Facebook or Instagram daily, not many would follow. So in creating this blog, you can either read about true life of working with wombats at the sanctuary or chose not to.

We will blog facts of what occurs, who we deal with and I have no doubt you will find it very interesting.

Bearing in mind, what is written is over and above the 16-20 hour days worked, 10 plus loads of wombat washing, being a mother to our two children, housework, Phil doing maintenance and building at the sanctuary, 70-100 wombat bottles daily and more.

Cruelty case from a wildlife carer. Don't think a person with a wildlife carers licence always does the right thing. Some of our worst cruelty comes from 'licenced carers'.

WHY? Because to sit in a course for 5 hours and get a piece of paper (the licence) does NOT make you a good carer or good with animals. That comes from the heart, not a piece of paper. Hence wildlife can fall into the wrong hands, and it does due to this 'system'.

TO BE NOTED: For the last 5 years, 90% of the manged wombats reported in were male wombats. This year, there is a CHANGE. 90% are female wombats. This shift in the dynamics concerns me as for the species long term, you need the female wombats. I am concerned that female wombats are under increased stress and this is a clear indication.

New arrival 2.2kg female orphaned wombat.

Yolandi weekend drive:

1. Male wombat , both ears cut off. Wombat was lying on his side with right ear in the mud and water so it couldn’t be insect activity. Both ears cut at the same spot, clean line not chewed. No mange

2. Wombat found on side of the road with massive head injuries. large slit under its throat from impact. Could not determine sex as foxes already got to it. No mange

PLEASE understand one thing. Mange is mange on a wombat. Even if a wombat has 30% mange and you cannot treat it and won't have it put down because 'it does not look too bad yet'. Please please understand it is being eaten alive and that you are in fact then watching it die over months. Please then also understand our anger when you DO call us 4 months later because it cannot walk because it is dying - that is not fair on the wombat. To do that is cruel.

2 Manged wombats reported in, a few kilometres from the sanctuary which of course is not good for us. Severe cases too.

Yolandi 5am drive:

1. Found a live kangaroo but badly injured in the middle of the road. Cars speeding past. It got scared and jumped up. Took 5 hours between me, police and Wildcare until it could be found and euthanised

2. Male wombat dead in the middle of the road - still warm, blood just started seeping out of his nose (so I must have passed the person who killed him and didnt stop). Both back legs broken and lower back broken. No mange

3. Male wombat dead next to the side of the road - left ear cleanly cut off and testicles removed (couldnt be predator as there were no bitemarks or injury). What broke my heart with this one is that there was foam coming out of his nose meaning he was alive after injury. His whiskers were completely frosted over so he lay in the cold and froze to death. Shame on people for leaving animals injured and alive in the bitter cold to perish

2 Requests for wombat relocation assistance as people cannot get assistance from local wildlife groups.

New 2kg orphan female wombat found with her dead mother, has been with her for 4 days. Mother cut in half on train track and train driver stopped on second trip as he saw the little joey sitting on one half of its dead mother on the side of the train track. Some good people out there.

New 16kg female, attacked with injured back leg from Peppertree Mine (our local mine that cares) so she is now at the sanctuary for treatment and care.

Found an adult female wombat in the middle of the road at 7am. It was freezing. She had severe head injuries and was left lying on her back. She had a tiny pinkie, around 150g still in her pouch with one little arm sticking out. It was ice cold and had died hours earlier. Whoever killed this wombat and her little one did so without stopping and checking. The pinkie could have been saved. Better yet, if driven slowly mum would still be alive

7pm drive to Cooma:

Found an adult male wombat. 2nd worst injuries I have seen to date. His back was pulverized, all 4 legs broken, toenails all pulled out of one of his feet, jaw broken in several places. I felt sick seeing this. This trip was an eye opener in how driver's to Canberra behave. It was rainy, dark, no lights other than cars and if you drive slower you see heaps of kangaroos next to the road. But they dont slow down and abused me for driving less than 100kmh